I, Human

I, HUMAN is a body installation of physical sculptures with a virtual core using human empathy as content to influence the feeding conditions of microorganisms, and electric light as content carrier. Developed around the idea of interconnectivity, it analyzes how individual interactions can produce collective outcomes at different scales, testing new models of synergistic behaviour mediated by technology and identifying coherence patterns. It is a metaphor for our evolution as a species, which may depend on our capacity to empathize.
A circuit of interconnected masks howling like wolves are asking to be fed with emotions. Once superimposed on the human body, they analyze the emotional state of each user, as well as the emotional cohesion of the group. Each mask offers different soundscapes, inducing antagonistic psychological states. Users need to override their personal context in order to emotionally synchronize. The masks are connected to a biophotonics experiment in the bunker of the Center for Advanced Laser Technologies in Bucharest. The degree of emotional cohesion of the users connected to the installation controls the frequency and intensity with which the laser feeds a euglena population. While functioning as living experimental subjects, the users are also real-time observers of the experiment.

I, HUMAN (2019)
by SAINT MACHINE
what this is: an emotion responsive installation
what to do with it: synchronise your emotions with the other users you see on the phone screen, the degree of your emotional cohesion is feeding a euglena population with laser light

collaboration:
senior researchers Marian ZAMFIRESCU & Bogdan ȘTEFĂNIȚĂ, biophotonics experiment
CETAL – CENTRE FOR ADVANCED LASER TECHNOLOGIES
senior researcher Paulina ANASTASIU, biophotonics experiment
Bucharest Botanical Garden „DIMITRIE BRÂNDZA” – University of Bucharest
Alexandru-Florin VARTIC, Sorin OLEXIUC (programming)
Mitoş MICLEUȘANU (sound design)

foto: Roald Aron